The Return of 'Gracie'
by Onigiri49
Summary: Grams is staying at the Torres household for a week and Adam's mom has ordered him to be in girl mode for her entire stay, even at school. Can Adam hold out or will he break?  Story is set after the midseason finale of Season 11 "Dead and Gone".
1. Ch 1

_Disclaimer: I do not own Degrassi nor any of its characters._

_Note: Slight modifications made to story. Set in the fall after "Dead and Gone"._

_2nd note: Mrs. Audra Torres is Adam's biological mother and Drew's step-mother. The last name comes from Drew's biological father. Grams' last known is currently unknown; She is Audra's mother._

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><p><strong>MONDAY<strong> at _Degrassi_

Adam is pleading with Drew who's putting things away into his locker.

"Please, don't you have a long shirt or something I can wear to hide this?" He asks his older brother.

"Sorry, bro." He turns to Adam. "Why didn't you bring something to school from home in your backpack?"

"Mom checked my backpack before I could leave. I have nothing."

Drew shuts his locker and looks at Adam glumly, shrugging. "Can't help you."

"Don't you remember the last time I came to school looking like this?" He motions to the beige skirt he's wearing, the school uniform for girls.

Drew sighs. "Just... try to survive the rest of the day."

"Whoa!"

Both turn to see Dave staring at Adam.

Adam grumbles looking down then at eye level with Dave. "Awww... man."

Dave raises his eyebrows, flabbergasted. "Want to tell me what this is about? And what do you mean 'last time'?"

Drew pats Adam on the shoulders before walking away. "God speed."

Adam half heartedly makes a smile in response then brings his attention to the questions. "My grandmother has been staying at our house for the weekend and for the remainder of the school week" he explains.

"Your grandmother?" Dave asks confused.

"... She doesn't know that I'm trans. I have to play 'dress up' while she's here."

Dave nods. "Sorry to hear that, man. So you'll be like... _this_... ALL week?" He motions to Adam's skirt at _this_.

"I guess so." Adam looks to the side in defeat. "My mom got the girls' uniform last week to prepare **and** she's making sure I don't sneak any Adam clothes, like my hoodies, to school. It's like she thinks grams will catch me at school!" He nearly shouts.

"Tough break. Couldn't you just wear the pants instead? It's not a rule for, um, girls to wear the khaki skirts." Dave stumbles, asking Adam.

Adam frowns. "Mom said it's less confusing to wear the skirt, especially since I last cut my hair." He quickly motions to his relatively new boy haircut. "My grandma last saw me when my hair was longer." Adam continues, "I even have to wear these stupid knee high socks to hide my legs' hair growth."

Dave looks down at the white and pink striped socks with a face. "Yeah, this get up is a whole new level of confusing to me."

"Thanks for the vote of confidence." Adam retorted sarcastically.

Dave changes the topic. "And what about the uh... 'before'?" Dave reiterates.

"Oh... yeah. Last fall I had to be in 'girl mode' for my grandma one night and I wanted to please my mom, my family and everyone that I came to school dressed in my old clothes. It **really** didn't go well."

"What happened?" Dave rethinks. "Or am I prying?" He asks cautiously, catching himself.

Before Adam can respond the bell for 1st period goes off.

"We'll talk about it later. See ya!" Dave runs off.

"Wait, Dave!" Adam doesn't get the chance. Dave is gone. Just great... he forgot to ask if he had any clothes to lend.

**END OF CHAPTER 1**


	2. Ch 2

_A WHILE LATER IN A CLASS_

Dave speaks up at Adam next to him. "You okay, dude?"

Adam nervously is tapping a foot on the floor, grimacing. He shoos Dave away with a hand lost in his own thoughts.

Dave frowns at the rejection. 'Adam can be quiet in class sometimes, but this isn't like him' he remarks to himself. He's going to have to get Adam to talk to him at the MI Lab.

~~ _At the MI Lab later in the day_ ~~

Dave goes to the usual table, but there's no Adam to be seen.

"Hey, uh, Eli right?" He asks the eyeliner wearing student at the computers.

"I go by that name, yes. What can I do for you?" Eli suavely responds, recognizing Dave.

"You seen Adam anywhere? I'm worried about him." He says sincerely.

Eli's mood changes. "Adam? What's wrong? Did something happen?" He stands up, facing Dave.

Dave backs up from the sudden change. "I-I don't know. I just need to find him. He's been anxious all day."

"Why?" Eli asks forcefully.

"He's in the girls' uniform. Something about pleasing his grandmother as a girl...?" Dave shrugs, unsure of himself. "Look, I just need to find him. Anyways, we need to go over our bit for the next radio show and I need him for that. Can't do it alone."

"Come on, I have an idea where he might be." Eli leaves behind whatever he was doing on the computer and heads straight through the school and outside to where the tables are. Several tables away Eli can glimpse the back of Adam's head, him slumped over a table. He hurriedly rushes over with Dave confusedly following.

"Adam!" Eli calls out.

Adam looks up in surprise at Eli. "Eli... and Dave." He sees Dave come up next to Eli. "What are you two doing here?"

"The question is, what are **you** doing out here? We have work to do inside!" Dave exasperatedly tells him.

"I know, I know. I'm sorry. I'm just having a really cruddy day." He rests his head on his chin.

"You haven't been..." Eli's voice trails off.

Dave glances at Eli then to Adam. "What?"

Adam responds slightly uneasily, not quite looking Eli in the eyes. "I... haven't..."

"Okay, we can skip the radio today if you want. Mo can fill the spot with something else I'm su-" Dave is interrupted.

"No!" Adam cuts in, lifting his head. "... I, we need to do the show."

"But we have no material." Dave says.

Eli interjects. "Adam, no one would blame you if you didn't do it today."

"I'm going to be like this all week! We can't abandon the radio for a week! We have loyal fans, listeners... the whole school!" Adam cries defeatedly.

"You're more important." Eli declares. "The show can do without Adam Torres for a while."

"Besides, it's a 'man hour' and you aren't exactly look-" Adam gives a quick stern look shutting Dave up.

Dave speaks again a few seconds later. "Sorry. But you know what I mean."

"I didn't want to dress like this but I had to! You don't know how hard it is. I... I can't even wear my new compression vest, not even the binding I was doing before." Adam says, distraught.

"... Which is why the radio show can be put on the back burner for now." Dave clarifies.

**END OF CHAPTER 2**


	3. Ch 3

"Yeah, fine with me dude. Whatever you need to do." Mo okays Dave's plan. Mo had now taken over Sav's job as moderator of Degrassi radio, or, in other words, the tech guy position.

"So what will you do during our hour?" Dave asks.

"Don't sweat it. Got tons of tracks to play. It's ALL about the tunes." Mo emphasizes as he swivels his chair back around facing the equipment signaling Dave to leave the sound tech room.

"All right, cool." Dave walks out into the hallways.

"Hey, there's my man." Alli spots Dave and walks up with a flirty smile, linking an arm with his. "Miss me?"

"You know it." Dave forcefully flirts back. "But, uh, I gotta jet." He points behind him to where he needs to go. He needs to take a break from Alli anyway, their relationship has been a little rocky.

"Oh... uh, okay. You free tonight? We can hang out at the Dot, huh? My treat." Alli offers.

Dave continues the façade. "That sounds amazing. But something's come up. Rain check?" He asks, to sound hopeful.

Alli forces a smile at the response, masking her unhappiness. "Anything for my bf. We can try again tomorrow?" She rhetorically asks. She rubs a finger across his face as she leaves. "Don't let me down."

_At the Torres Household_

"Gracie, dear, could you help me put up this picture?" Adam's grandmother holds a large picture of young Gracie and Drew, taken just after the wedding, smiling next to each other. She and Mrs. Torres enlarged the picture since it was found to have it in the house to look at every day. A beautiful cherry wooden frame held the photo.

"Sure thing." Adam takes a hold of a the left bottom edge and pushes it up against the wall resting the top onto a screw jutting out the wall.

Grams lets go of the right side and takes a step back to admire the handiwork. "Oh, look how precious you and Drew look." She gushes. "You know, you two were the best of friends since the moment you met. Absolutely inseparable!" She laughs to herself in joy.

Adam secretly rolls his eyes, having heard this all too often. He's happy grams is having fun reminiscing, but he feels like her memories of them are a lie. Even back then he knew he wasn't meant to be Gracie. He tugs his skirt down nervously. He just can't get used to the feel. The moment grams goes to bed he's going to change into his Adam clothes. He may even sleep in them. 'Thank god grams is old and passes out so early every day.'

"You're awfully quiet." Grams remarks to Adam, turning around. "Anything wrong?"

Adam pauses, but quickly recovers. "The, uh, the picture. It's crooked." He fibs.

"Oh!" She shifts the picture by a few centimeters to a side with it shifting back to its original perfect place. She smiles, not realizing. "Just lovely. Audra, it's finished!"

Mrs. Torres calls out from the kitchen. "Be there in a minute!"

Grams smiles at Adam. "How about you and I go out for some shopping before dinner?"

"Shopping?" Adam asks in surprise. "Grams, your birthday is coming up. I couldn't ask for anything from you." He tells her, hoping to get out of it.

"Nonsense! We hardly get to spend anytime together, Gracie." She says kindly.

Mrs. Torres comes in. "Mom, it's beautiful! What a wonderful idea to do this." She praises the large picture of her children. It reminds her so much of the little girl she misses and can see again while her mother is here. "So what's this I hear? You two going to sneak out and leave me here to cook?"

"You don't need me here! I'll just be a bother!" Grams jokes. "Gracie and I have plans. Don't we Gracie?"

Adam pushes aside his dysphoria and grins. "Absolutely."

**END OF CHAPTER 3**


	4. Ch 4

Adam pulls the grey hoodie he quickly snatched from his room further over his head. He's hoping no one from Degrassi is at this mall and will recognize him. Thankfully his grandma doesn't seem to be noticing. She's active for her age and is several feet ahead of him taking in all the mall has to offer moving briskly, taking a look at each store she passes by. She spots a Banana Republic on their right and walks in. Adam ambles in after her.

"This looks like a good spot." She smiles watching the young women looking through the racks. "Now don't you worry about the cost, Gracie. This is your gift from me." Adam nods. "Just come find me if you need any help. I'll be around."

Adam breathes a sigh of relief, thankful she won't be on him like a shadow. That's the great thing about the Torres family, besides having an overprotective mother that is, they're all independent. Adam fiddles with one of his hoodie's drawstrings and looks around nervously. He notices that all the people walking around he doesn't recognize. No one here is from Degrassi! 'Phew, one less worry. Now what am I supposed to do?'

Adam slowly looks at the section of girls' clothes. He grimaces. 'They're all so... frilly.' They mostly seem to be blouses. Definitely a girl thing he doesn't want. Adam gets an idea. He grabs two different blouses in his size then goes across the store to the men's side. He finds the casual shirt section. Perfect.

A few minutes later grams appears next to him. "Gracie, look at this!" She shows him a patterned pink dress. It's marked over $100! "This would look beautiful on that cute figure of yours." She sees some belts and snatches one. "A pink braided belt. It would go perfectly with this!" She seems so excited. Adam couldn't possibly crush her spirits. 'I just need to pretend I'll try it on. It's not like I have to accept it and let her buy it. I could just say it didn't fit me right.' He reasons.

"Yeah, uh, looks awesome grams." Adam lies. Well, it does look awesome... on a number of girls from Degrassi he can think of. He smirks to himself then shudders realizing _he's_ the one trying it on.

"I found some things so I'm going to go try them on." Adam puts the blouses on over his guy clothes. Grams smiles at them and hands Adam the dress and belt. Adam heads to the back to find a changing room. On a good note, they're unisex rooms. He wonders why grams didn't bother with finding him at the men's section. 'Maybe she didn't notice?" Adam shrugs to himself. He begins to wonder if he's becoming paranoid. He's not used to this kind of situation.

Adam bitterly throws the blouses on the chair and hangs up what he found on one rack and the dress and belt on the one over.

Adam smiles at himself, looking at his reflection in a bold checkered long sleeved shirt. 'I look good' he thinks, trying on his normal clothes. Maybe he can get grams to get them without causing any confusion. He tries on one after the other loving each one. If Degrassi ever changed back to letting students wear their own clothes instead of uniforms these would be a great addition to his wardrobe.

"You ready in there? May I see how it looks, Gracie?" Grandma's voice rings out from outside the changing room.

"It, I mean, the dress didn't fit right." Adam says.

"Oh, let me find a smaller size." She leaves.

Adam looks at the tag on the dress hanging by him... it's the right size. He might as well try it on. He is _not _about to try on a tighter size. No one else will see him, it's just grams. Who still doesn't know about Adam. He sighs and begins to put on the dress.

"Gracie? I'm back with another size." She announces.

"That's okay, grams. I was mistaken." Adam had just added the belt on around his waist and opens the door.

"Oh, you look adorable! I knew it was the right dress the moment I laid eyes on it!" His grandmother gushes.

"Yeah, it fits just fine actually." Adam gives a forced smile.

"Oh, we have to get this." She smiles, referring to the outfit. "Find anything else at this store or want to keep looking around?" She asks him.

"Uh, no I'm good. Let me just change back and we can go." Adam changes back into the school uniform for girls and walks out the changing room with the dress and belt. He leaves behind the blouses he never tried on... and the men clothing.

**END OF CHAPTER 4**

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><p><strong>Please review!<strong>

**Note to reviewers:** _It's only Monday. A lot can happen over the week... :) _


	5. Ch 5

**ON TUESDAY**

_Beep Beep Beep_

A hand reaches over and slams on the annoying beeping clock. "Another day as Gracie." Adam glumly says to himself aloud.

After shopping yesterday his mother and grandmother went on about how gorgeous his new things were. In all he had gotten a new dress, a belt, two shirts and a pair of shoes - all from the girls' section. Mr. Torres was stiff about it at the dinner table, finding his memory of little Gracie hard to imagine grown up in a dress when he now had two sons. Gracie was long gone to him only to rarely artificially appear to appease Mrs. Torres' wishes to appear for a relative who was unaware of Adam. He merely ate in silence nodding occasionally to a remark either woman made. They were so caught up, chatting up a storm, they paid no mind to his taciturn behavior. Drew stuffed his face with the ravioli, swallowing each piece seemingly by whole, and then raced off to watch a game on tv leaving Adam behind to awkwardly take up the time by offering to wash the dishes. Before going to bed Adam took his typical Degrassi uniform for his Junior year, the red polo shirt and his khaki pants and shoes, and stuffed them into a bag. The new school year had started just a few weeks ago. He opened up his window and carefully threw the bag out so it would land below behind a bush.

_About 10 minutes later_

Adam kisses his grandmother on the cheek. "Have a good day, grams."

"Hold on, we're not leaving for another 15 minutes." Mrs. Torres stops her youngest son, who is about to open the door to leave.

"I know, I was thinking of just walking to school today." He keeps his hand on the knob, trying to sound as casual about it as he can. He knows if she drives he's stuck in his black knee high socks and skirt again.

"Mom, will you give us a moment please?" She asks grams.

"Of course, dear." Grams walks out.

Mrs. Torres walks closer to Adam and motions him to sit down in the closest chair of their living room. She sits down in the chair next to him from across a small table where an unlit lamp stands. "Adam, I know this is hard for you but it's only for a couple more days."

"Yeah, no, it's fine. I just feel like walking today. Clear my head." Adam says, putting his backpack down on the carpet floor. It had already been searched by his mother.

"Is everything all right?" She asks in a concerned voice. "Are you still having nightmares?"

"No mom. I'm fine. I got over that during the summer remember?" Adam reminds her. Ever since the shooting he started to have nightmares about it, flashbacks of that horrifying night at the prom. Drew, having suffered from PTSD and nightmares himself, helped Adam get through it over the summer. It was challenging, but Adam feels a lot better about the ordeal.

Mrs. Torres thinks the answer over in her head for a few seconds before sighing and nodding to Adam. "All right. Well, Drew is almost ready to go so you just hang tight and we can go. I don't want you walking to school today." She starts to get up.

Adam angrily talks back, "But mom! Why not?"

Mrs. Torres turns to him with a stern look. "I will not having you raise your voice at me. Your grandmother is here, you need to be on your best behavior."

"Sorry." Adam slumps in his chair. So much for his plan.

_AT DEGRASSI_

"Hey yo, Adam my man!" Dave appears next to Adam's locker. "How you holding up?" He sees Adam is still in the girls' uniform. From head to toe, with the black barrette in his hair to his skirt to his knee high socks and even his shoes, which looks new - definitely not anything the Adam he knows would wear, each pair had a little black bow on the top. If he didn't know Adam he'd swear he was a girl. He almost didn't recognize him the day before.

"I'm holding." Adam plainly replies. He puts in unneeded books from his backpack into his locker and takes out what is required for the first half of the day.

"Look who's coming your way." Dave directs Adam's attention to Bianca who saunters over to them with her eyes locked onto Adam's.

"Hey guys." She says, smiling warmly.

They say hey back to her.

"So, Drew told me about your grandmother staying over." She says matter-of-factly to Adam.

"Yeah, it sucks." He closes his locker and faces Bianca. "Still make an ugly girl?" He half laughs.

Bianca rolls her eyes, smiling. "I'm sorry I said that before, okay? C'mon, we're friends now."

Dave looks on in confusion. He definitely missed something a year ago, before he knew any of them.

"Speaking of us being friends... could you do me a favor?" Adam asks haltingly.

"Hey, after what happened at prom I'll do anything." She assures.

"Promise?" Adam raises an eyebrow.

"Yeah, totally." Bianca promises. "I'll catch you later. Meet me at lunch?"

"Uh..." Adam looks around seeing students headed to classes. The bell is just about to ring. "How about right ouside the caf, in the halls where we can sit instead? Before we eat?"

"Oh, okay. Sure." Biance shrugs in an easy going manner. The three leave to go their separate ways.

**END OF CHAPTER 5**


	6. Ch 6

_Before meeting Bianca_

Adam walks out of his class and into the hallway. Being Gracie in these classes is not easy. Scratch that. The teachers still call him by his chosen name Adam, but even into the second day they get confused and call him by female pronouns. It's not their fault really. They've only known Adam for a few weeks now. It's his stupid girl clothes that confuse them. Any class he's in with his friends who are Juniors - Dave, Clare, Alli and Jenna - they correct the teacher to refer to him with male pronouns. Adam had been too embarrassed to speak up. Before a class with any of them, they would tell Adam that so-and-so told them of him being Gracie for the week, usually Clare who was told by Eli, and that they are sorry but they're there to help him out. Word spreads fast around Degrassi... but Adam is grateful that in this instance it's friends who know.

Dave is behind him. "So, uh" he walks up next to Adam, catching his attention, "I'll see you after lunch, dude."

Adam smiles at him for understanding to not join him and Bianca. "Later."

The second Dave walks away Adam looks around apprehensively as he heads to his meeting place. He nears the hallway to the cafeteria and waits for the usual students to empty out the hall going to lunch. When the coast seems clear he heads into the hallway and sits at the end near the glass doors. Half a minute later he sees Bianca and stands up to greet her. "Bianca!"

Suddenly a niner between them nears Adam. "Hey dyke. What happened to the rest of your hair?" He taunts him.

"Hey! Big Red! One more crack like that to my friend Adam here and I'll have your face match your hair." Bianca says intimidatingly to Tristan, stepping in front of Adam.

Tristan looks between them cautiously. He recognizes Bianca from when she volunteered for Grade 9 Orientation. "The chick's name is Adam?"

Adam moves ahead of Bianca. "I'm **not** a chick."

Tristan scoffs. "Could've fooled me." Before Bianca or Adam can respond he races off.

Adam sits back down with Bianca in a gloomy manner. "Forget him Adam. Niners are so beneath the intelligence radar."

"Thanks for... what you did there." Adam remarks. He's still getting used to a nice Bianca.

"No prob. Now what did you want to talk to me about?" She asks him.

Adam opens his mouth as if he's about to say something but pauses. Bianca looks at him questioningly. "Yeah...?"

Adam licks his lips and tries again. "I need you to hook me up."

"With a girl?" She concludes, without thinking.

"No. Not a girl... hook me up with... some drugs." He explains.

Bianca furrows her eyebrows. "What? Why?"

"Bianca you know why." He says pointedly. He speaks at a lower tone to avoid being heard by any nearby students. "To take the edge off while I try to get through the rest of this week."

Bianca looks off into a random direction. "I know a girl who can help out." She looks back to Adam. "At a club. Name's Chloe."

"You get your drugs from a club?" Adam asks her.

"Adam, I'm not the kind of girl to do coke." She clarifies, to set the record straight.

"Oh." Is all he says in response, a little embarrassed for assuming it.

"Okay. I'll do it. I can go tonight and bring them back to you tomorrow." She agrees. She stands up and smiles. "C'mon, let's go to lunch."

_After School At the Torres Household_

"Hello? Anyone home?" Adam enters his house, dropping his backpack onto the floor. The house is lit, but no one seems to be home.

"Mom and grams are out." Drew comes from the kitchen with a sandwich in his mouth. Well, it's almost empty.

"They're what?" Drew's mumbling was hard to understand.

Drew swallows and repeats. "Mom and grams are out getting groceries."

"And what are you doing here? Aren't you joined at the hip with Katie?" He questions.

"No! But I... do have a Tae Kwon Do session with her. Came home for a bite to eat and mom told me to stay and tell you when you came home. They have some kind of surprise for you." He shrugs and takes another huge bite out of his sandwich while headed to the door to walk out.

"A surprise?" Adam follows Drew out the door. "What kind of surprise?"

"I don't know, bro. I really got to go. See you at dinner!" Drew leaves and Adam closes the door upon re-entering the house.

Mrs. Torres and grams have been home for a few hours now chatting garrulously and making dinner. They didn't take much longer at the grocery after Drew left. Adam's surprise would be revealed at dinner, until then he was free to do what he wanted. Adam had been taking this time to lie and say he was meeting up with Dave when really he took the bag he dropped outside his window and brought it back to school to stuff it in his locker. Now he can change his clothes in the bathroom when he gets to school tomorrow and change back before he goes home. The school was nearly abandoned when he got there - a little over an hour since he was let out, only open for a little while longer for those in detention and after school activities.

After closing his locker Adam decided to wander around a bit. He was pretty bored and was in no mood to go home just yet. With the halls empty, except for the occasional teacher, he felt less self conscious being Gracie. Adam strolled through a few halls and through an unknown hall where he found himself descending. He landed in what appeared to be some kind of basement. "I didn't know we had a basement." Adam thinks aloud. He sees something else. "Or an elevator."

'Hmm.' Adam presses a button on the wall next to it and hears a whirring sound signaling the elevator had been turned on. He looks down and sees a lock and fiddles with it, it won't come off. "It needs a key." Adam notices a room by him labelled CUSTODIAL USE ONLY. Adam is no custodian, but right now he couldn't care less. He goes in and finds a key ring full of dangling keys. "Jackpot!"

After a few tries he found the right key and unlocked the elevator. "I wonder where it leads to." He rides it up until it stops, it makes a lot of loud creepy rumbling sounds. The elevator opens up vertically and Adam steps out shaking off the heebie jeebies. He's determined to press on. In the small room Adam finds a single ladder on the wall and climbs up it to a roof hatch that he opens.

"Whoa..." Adam says in amazement. "I made it to the roof." He can hear traffic bustling below. He's tempted to yell out 'hello!' for the fun of it but holds it back in fear of being caught up here. "Man, Eli or Dave would love it up here! I wonder if anyone's been up here before..." Then another thought kicks in, "I could bring Bianca up here tomorrow! She'd be psyched."

Adam realizes he's been messing around for a long while now and checks his watch. "Yikes. Gotta get back home before anyone notices I've been gone so long." Adam hurries back to the hatch and closes it after he's in. He climbs back down, rides the elevator back down and locks it so it looks undisturbed. Before placing the keys back inside the custodian room where he found them he makes sure he knows which key to use and then races back to the main hallways. Making sure no teacher is around to question his presence he exits the school and heads home almost completely forgetting he has a surprise awaiting him when he gets there.

**END OF CHAPTER 6**


	7. Ch 7

_Hey B. Meet me 15 min. earlier in the morn. - Adam_

Adam turns off his cell and sees the sun has yet to set. _Phew_. His mom gets mad if he comes home when it's getting dark. When he reaches the house he walks in and calls out, "Mom! I'm back!"

"In the kitchen, sweetie!" He hears her respond. Adam follows her voice. "Hey, when's dinner ready? Need any help?"

Grams assures him, stirring a pot behind Mrs. Torres. "Oh no, we're fine. Dinner will be ready in half an hour."

"You and Dave have fun?" His mother asks him.

"Dave?" Adam quickly recollects what he earlier told his mom. "Oh, oh yeah. I played some games over at his house."

"Hm, well, you should've invited him over here. You have your Xbox." She reminds him.

"I meant basketball games. He's, uh, really into basketball. He's a player at Degrassi." Adam 'corrects' himself.

"I hope that boy wasn't too rough with you, Gracie." Grams says in a concerned tone, listening in.

"It's just basketball." Adam almost mutters. He leans against a wall. "So... um, what's the surprise?"

"We'll tell you at dinner. I already told you." Mrs. Torres reiterates as she sets the oven to 350°.

"Oh, Audra. You're tormenting the girl. She can know." Grams laughs and smiles at Adam.

Mrs. Torres smiles widely and sits down at the table. Adam follows suit.

"A- Gracie." Mrs. Torres catches herself, "Before your father and I were married I got to meet his entire family. Drew spent some time with them two years ago, if you remember? That summer?"

Adam nods. At the same time he clenches his hands together into a fist, steaming over all these girl terms. _How much longer do I have to take this? It can't get any worse. _It helps him not explode right then and there.

"You were so young at the time and haven't seen your father's side of the family since." She continues.

"And? What's the big surprise?" Adam asks impatiently.

She smiles widely again. "They're all coming over this Thursday for your grandmother's birthday!"

Adam opens his mouth in shock. "What?"

"They moved back their usual family reunion three weeks early to come see us again. This is why grams came to stay this week. So we can all be together. Isn't this exciting?" She turns to grams to mention how she can't wait to see so-and-so again.

Adam thinks over the sitation, trying to process it. On the plus side, he gets to see his cousins, aunts and uncles of his dad's side of the family again since he was little. On the negative side, he gets to meet them as Gracie, like they knew him last they saw him, and not as Adam. _This just got a lot worse._

**Wednesday Morning**

"Drew you know I never ask you for anything." Adam begins, pleading. He wish it never came to this. "Just do me this one thing? Help a brother out? I promise I'll pay back the favor somehow." He follows Drew into the bathroom.

"Look, you already woke me up early. I wouldn't back out now anyway." Drew says groggily and irritatedly. He musses with his hair, giving it the perfect 'just out of bed' style as he looks at his reflection. He then looks at Adam's reflection. "You still haven't told me _why_ we're going to school early."

"I need to meet up with Bianca." Adam fesses.

"Oh, yeah? Why not just see her later?" Drew questions.

Adam sighs, already sick of answering to things this early in the day. Something about asking about him being with a girl got to him. He wasn't sure why. "I just do, okay? I have something to show her before classes start."

Drew recognizes his brother getting angry by the rise in his voice. They may have their arguments, but Drew and Adam started out as best friends before they became step-brothers. Instead of having fun torturing a sibling, purposely making each other mad, Drew actually preferred to keep Adam calm - except when it came to sports and video games of course. "Okay, okay. Sorry I brought it up." He won't bother asking what this thing Adam wants to show her is. 'Pfft. Probably just some new comic he's been reading he thinks Bianca will think is cool. Go all geek-zoid or something on her.'

"Mom? Can you drive us to school early?" Drew asks his mother as he rummages around the pantry looking for a quick bite for breakfast.

"Oh, but what about breakfast? What's so important you have to get there early?" Audra drills her son.

"Nah, this is fine." He mumbles as he chews on a cold poptart. He grabs a second one. "Adam's." He clarifies, looking at his mother, to show he had already talked it over with Adam and okayed it with him. "I need to meet up with some of the guys. We're going over our math equations before our test." He lies.

"You have a test today?" His mother asks, surprised. She always keeps check on this sort of thing.

_Whoops._ "Uh, I meant a fake quiz. No biggie, mom. We just want to get ahead." He tries to play it off as casually as possible.

"A _fake_ quiz?" Audra puts her hands on her hips, facing her son, noticing how odd it sounds.

Drew smiles nervously, but tries to hide it. "Teacher's idea. She did this last year with her students at this time and just told us about it yesterday. I forgot to tell you." He answers quickly. The stuff just spills out of his head.

"Oh." Is all she says. She cocks her head slightly, "Why is it called a fake quiz?"

"'cause it's not graded. It's to prep us for real quizzes and tests and junk like that. Kind of like a summary of what we've just learned so we don't forget anything." He shrugs. _Man, I'm good._ He inwardly smirks to himself.

Mrs. Torres smiles in approval. She is about to yell for Adam to call down when she remembers her mother is still asleep... and the fact that her mother is here and doesn't know Gracie as Adam. Adam appears on the stairs as if on cue. "Ready to go?" He says briskly. He opens the door indicating for them to leave. Mrs. Torres is none the wiser as to what is up.

**END OF CHAPTER 7**


	8. Ch 8

Adam stands at the top of the front steps of Degrassi waiting for Bianca. She needs to get here before more students show up. He had just come back from his locker where he stuffed his clothes into his backpack and now back at the steps he still doesn't see her.

He looks ahead searching the ground and then spots her coming in from the side, her curly brown hair bouncing and her golden hoop earrings dimly shining in the early morning light. Adam imagines her blue Degrassi uniform and black leather jacket instead being a cherry red satin blouse dress lightly ruffling in the breeze... He blinks out of his fantasy when she reaches him.

"Mornin'." She tucks a hair behind an ear. "So why'd you want to meet so early?"

"Come on." Adam gently grabs an arm of hers and leads her into the school and through the halls.

"Where are we going?" She asks, not resisting.

"You'll see." Adam determinedly presses on winding through the hallways, one after the other.

"Where are we?" Bianca doesn't recognize the current hallway they're in. They're nowhere near any classrooms. She notices Adam moving quickly as if he's trying to not be noticed by anyone.

Adam smiles at her as they reach his destination, thankful no teacher or, even worse, Mr. Simpson noticed them.

"Is this some kind of basement?" Her voice echos a bit in the room.

"Yep! I discovered it yesterday." He answers proudly. He had barely slept the night before, looking forward to spending some time with Bianca up on the roof.

Bianca's demeanor turns slightly sour. "What's so great about a basement?"

Adam decides to answer her with actions. He retrieves the set of keys from the custodian room. He immediately spots the right key to use and opens up the locked elevator before them, then presses the button on the wall next to it. It starts to make an eerie whirring sound that lasts a while before it opens.

"We're going in _there_?" Bianca asks, masking her fear. Since becoming friends with Bianca again Adam has learned that a lot of her tough behavior is to hide insecurities. Yesterday the elevator gave him the creeps too, but now he's too excited to care. He takes Bianca's hand and walks into the elevator, she steps in after him silently. They ride it up listening to all the rumbles and creaks it makes. Bianca presses her lips together hoping it stops soon. After it opens up Bianca is first to walk out and into a small room.

"We're almost there." Adam goes to the ladder and climbs it up. Bianca looks up to see where he's going but doesn't see anything. Adam opens up the hatch and light shines down on them. Bianca peers her eyes then follows him up until they both are on the roof.

"How'd you find this again?" Bianca asks, as she takes in her new environment.

"I was bored yesterday after school and just sort of wandered around and stumbled into the basement. I was curious about the elevator so rode it up and got here." He says nonchalantly.

"Cool." Bianca walks around the roof. It's a lot wider than she thought it would be. She's almost jealous. This is the kind of place she should've found ages ago back when she hung with Fitz and Owen. They could've done some nice damage then. Bianca internally shakes her head reminding herself that that's the old Bianca and she's better than that now. After all the mess she got Drew, herself and the entire school, especially with Adam getting shot, into she is determined to move past it. They faced Vince in court soon after school started and won the case against him. Thanks to a good lawyer Bianca faced no charges for her crimes with Vince and his gang. They'll never have to see him again, he can no longer hurt them. It's a huge relief. Over the summer, awaiting to face Vince in court, Bianca had gotten even closer to the Torres brothers.

Bianca looks to Adam for a quick glance, him on the dance floor bleeding and crying flashes in her mind. It was that instant back at the prom that she knew this had all gone too far and she was the one to finally do the right thing. To put an end to all of this. She couldn't bear to see Adam much longer and all her peers worried looking over him to make sure he was okay. She picked up the gun Vince had dropped on the floor and walked out to go after him. She couldn't let him get away with this, for trapping her into a vicious cycle of being his slave and selling drugs... for ruining her life, for ruining everything and everyone that mattered to her. She fully intended to shoot him when he came out of his safehouse but Drew had followed her and convinced her that it would just make matters worse. She ended up telling the detectives everything that went down that night after the police arrived and arrested Vince. Drew had saved her.

"So, uh..." Adam starts from behind her, breaking into her thoughts. He kicks a few pebbles around. "I thought we could skip school today and hang up here."

"Whoa, check out the new Adam. That's so un-you." She remarks with please.

"So you game?" He asks hopefully.

"Adam, usually I would say 'yes' but I'm trying to turn over a new leaf, you understand." She tells him, speaking aloud what crossed her mind just a moment ago.

"Oh. Yeah, I mean, that's fine." Adam sits down on a pipe, a clear expression of glum etched on his face from the rejection. _Guess he wanted this to be a surprise _Bianca thinks to herself.

Bianca clicks her tongue. "I brought the coke. Chloe scored me some at the club." She sits down next to him on the pipe. "You sure you up for this?"

"Have you ever done it?" Adam asks her.

Bianca shakes her head. "Don't touch the stuff, remember?" She grabs her backpack and unzips the front pouch. She takes out a miniscule ziplock bag that contains some white powder. "Cocaine's powerful stuff, but not everyone reacts the same. You may not get any rush from it."

"So an isolated reaction?" Adam figures.

"Huh?" Bianca says in response, not understanding.

"Nevermind." He quickly says. Without another word or a second thought Adam takes the bag and opens it, lightly dusting it onto the back of his left hand into a line about the length of a thumb. He puts the bag down on the ground next to him, presses a nostril closed with his right hand and snorts up the line. Immediately Adam is overcome with a burning sensation in his nostril.

**END OF CHAPTER 8**


	9. Ch 9

"Ugh." Adam rubs his nose instinctively.

Bianca starts laughing as she watches him.

"When does it take effect?" Adam asks.

Bianca shrugs. "I dunno. If nothing happens in the next 20 minutes you can take another hit."

"You staying to see?" Adam says, taking a shot at her saying she will.

"Nah." Bianca closes up her backpack and stands up swinging it over her leather jacket. "Gotta get to class. I stay any longer and I'll be late."

Adam nods understandingly. "Okay." He stands up and walks her over to the hatch. "Catch you after school?"

Bianca steps down to the top step of the ladder. "Can't. I'm meeting up with an aunt of mine."

"See you tomorrow then." Adam simpers.

"For sure." She greets him back similarly and continues descending down. Adam closes the hatch and heads back to his own backpack, taking out his usual Adam clothes. It's easier she's gone anyway - he can change in private.

Once Adam is in his normal clothes he takes a look at his watch. Ten minutes have passed since his first shot at the coke. _That's funny._ He thought his heart was supposed to beat like crazy and he would feel tingly and just fucking great like he was in a state of absolute euphoria. All he had so far was a nose starting to feel a little numb that was also a little runny. He sniffed in annoyance and reached into his pocket to get the cocaine, losing his patience in waiting. He repeated the process of dusting it into a thin line and snorted it up with his other nostril. It burned a bit like before, but that was it.

Adam glowered. He wanted to forget all the troubles of the world - of _his_ world. Just one moment where his life was the last thing he could think about. His stupid girl body, the dysphoria, the bullying, the moving to start over, the more bullying, the shooting. All of it. He looks around and sees all the many pebbles and bits of puddles from the rain that fell the night before. He sighs. He always wanted some time alone to himself, but since coming to Degrassi he had been more sociable, more like himself. He made some great friends and Bianca has finally warmed up to him. He wanted to spend the whole day up here with her. _Yawn._ All his excitement was crushed when she couldn't stay. He should've known better. _Stupid!_ Adam takes his wretched skirt he's been having to wear and folds it up then puts it on the ground beneath him. He lies back and his head rests on it. He wishes he had slept more the night before... he's so tired...

Adam wakes up groggily some time later. He grabs a kleenex from his backpack and blows his nose. He takes out a box lunch he made the night before. Two roast beef sandwiches stuffed with lettuce, provolone cheese, onion, tomato and pickles. The second sandwich was meant for Bianca. He takes one out and squirts on small packets of mayo and mustard and munches on it in the silence. It's times like these he wishes he brought along his iPod and earbuds. Even his cell phone would've been nice, but he left it back at the house to charge. The silence is getting to him. He can almost hear a slight ringing in his head.

When he finishes he takes a swig of his bottled Aquafina water. His eyes wander around boredly and land on the cocaine he left a few feet away from him, still contained in the ziploc. He snatches it and impulsively makes two more lines and snorts each one up. _Maybe this time I'll feel something. _After this thought he doesn't remember anything.

~~ Later ~~

Clare holds up a plastic container, carrying it gingerly in her hands, as she heads towards the Torres' household. She knocks on the door and Mrs. Torres opens the door. "Hello." She says tersely.

Clare clears her throat. "Greetings Mrs. Torres. I brought some soup for - " She hears Adam's grandmother humming in the kitchen. "For Gracie."

Mrs. Torres frowns, nonplussed by the gesture. "I'm sorry I don't..." Her hesitation allows Clare to respond.

"I just figured he _she_ was sick. She wasn't in any of our classes today." Clare corrects herself. Good thing too, grams had just walked into the living room.

"Mom!" Mrs. Torres tone strikes a nervous tone with Clare. _Is something wrong?_ She wonders quickly to herself.

"What's the matter dear?" Grams has noticed it too.

"Gracie! She wasn't in school today! She's missing!" Mrs. Torres says with a stricken expression.

~~ ... ~~

"He's what?" Drew frowns as he listens to his mother explain the situation. "No, no. I haven't seen him since this morning after you dropped us off. Are you sure he's not just out with friends?" She explains about Clare coming over thinking he was sick. "I'll be home right away!"

Over the next two hours the Torres family frantically searches for Adam. Mrs. Torres had called her husband and they met up and drove around the neighborhood countless times in one car, while Drew had been contacting Adam's friends - all of whom have no idea where he is - and proceeded to make posters to put up. They told him they'll keep an eye out for Adam, but are sure he's fine and that he just lost track of time. Clare offered to put up a notice about him being missing on FaceRange. She used the photo Drew had for his posters. Grams spends her time calling family members coming the next day for her birthday and the family reunion to let them know what has happened. It's too late for any of them to cancel. Many are staying at hotels that night having spent that whole day driving to get there. They're to arrive by tomorrow afternoon as scheduled. They all send their best wishes and hopes that Gracie is found soon and safe.

Drew is standing outside putting up his last handful of posters marked with '**MISSING** PLEASE HELP US FIND ADAM TORRES. LAST SEEN IN FRONT OF THE DEGRASSI COMMUNITY SCHOOL' along with the number to contact with any possible information when his parents drive up. His father parks on the side of the road and his mother steps out.

"Drew!" She hurriedly walks over to him. "We can't find him anywhere. We're going to have to contact the police and file a missing person report."

Drew nods. "So, who are you filing him as?"

Audra sighs. "As Adam. It's how his friends and school know him."

"And all his Gracie pictures are when he was younger. I've been using his photo from his FaceRange page..." Drew adds. "What are you going to tell grams?"

~~ ... ~~

_Good evening I'm Janice Halloway__, __thanks for joining us tonight. A family is on a desperate search for 16 year old Adam Torres. The teen was last seen at about 8:30 this morning when he was going to school, but was later found to never have been seen inside the Degrassi Community School since he was dropped off. _He is 5'5" with blue eyes and dark brown hair. He was last seen wearing the Degrassi uniform which includes a red shirt for Juniors. Police have searched the school grounds and Toronto area with no luck in finding the teen and__ are seeking help from the public in finding him. __If you have any information about the boy's whereabouts, please contact _-_

Grams puts the television on mute. At the bottom of the screen the following is added:_ Callers who wish to remain anonymous can do so. _Someone an hour away also watching the news ponders this information she reads and makes a phone call.

She turns away from the television and faces her daughter with complete confusion and worry. "Audra, what is this? Is this a mix-up? We need to correct them and find Gracie! It's getting dark and she still hasn't been found."

Audra waits a few seconds, mentally preparing herself for what she knew one day would happen. "There's something I need to tell you."

**END OF CHAPTER 9**

_Please review!_

_Interesting note: "Boredly" is not in the dictionary, but can be found in the Urban Dictionary._


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